Judge dismisses charge against man who talked about beating Tami Sawyer
Ruling highlights clash between free speech, fear for safety
A judge dismissed an assault charge Thursday in the case of George Johnson, a staunch supporter of the Confederacy who had publicly talked about beating up elected official and activist Tami Sawyer.
Shelby County General Sessions Court Judge Dean Dedmon made the ruling after a non-jury trial.
Sawyer, who for years has worked for the removal of Confederate monuments and now serves as a Shelby County Commissioner, pressed charges against Johnson shortly after the highly publicized incident on June 4, 2021. On that day, Sawyer was giving remarks to the press about the exhumation of Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest and his wife Mary Ann Montgomery Forrest.
Johnson, nicknamed “K-rack,” had frequently turned up at anti-confederate rallies as a counterprotester. This time, he taunted Sawyer throughout the entirety of the press conference while singing the song “Dixie” a minstrel-era anthem of the South during and after the Civil War.
As Johnson waved miniature Confederate battle flags, he said, “If you were a man, I’d beat your ass,” according to both court documents and recorded news footage.
Johnson repeatedly called Sawyer a “communist.” The situation reflected bigger issues: Johnson is a white man who supports the Confederacy, which defended slavery. Sawyer is a Black woman who is on the receiving of Johnson’s sustained harassment.
Sawyer filed a report with the Memphis police soon after the encounter.
Short-lived as the moment was, Sawyer testified in court Thursday that the moment rattled her. For years, she told The Commercial Appeal, Johnson has openly harassed the sitting county commissioner.
One January night before Johnson was scheduled to appear in court, a video clip surfaced of Johnson and an unknown associate alluding to special plans for Memphis and handing out Sawyer’s address for anyone who wanted to send her symbols commonly associated with slavery, like cotton.
Prosecuting attorney Andrew Hays asked the judge to consider the totality of the case.
The judge dismissed the assault charge after the third request from Johnson’s defense attorney, Steve Farese. The reason, according to Dedmon, was not because of any dispute of what took place on the hot June day in 2021.
Rather, it was because this was a case where Johnson’s First Amendment protections for free speech clashed with Sawyer’s “reasonable fear against bodily harm,” according to Dedmon.
“The issue is, ‘What would show reasonable threat of imminent harm?” Dedmon said, noting that what constitutes harm for himself, Sawyer, or Johnson could differ.
After dismissing the charges, Dedmon offered some advice to Johnson: stay far, far away from Sawyer.
Johnson’s avid support of a treasonous cause, the Confederacy, was more pathetic than his singing abilities, the judge said.
Johnson declined to speak with The Commercial Appeal Thursday.
Following the bench trial, Sawyer said the dismissal was why representation matters in the judicial system.
Most everyone involved in the trial — the state prosecutor, the defendant, the judge — was white. What seems reasonable to them, Sawyer said, could be different from what is reasonable to her.
“The question in America,” Sawyer said, “is can a white man understand what’s reasonable for a Black woman in the South? Is what happened today a win for the defendant? Sure. But it’s also proof about what it looks like to be a party in a system that doesn’t represent you.”
Sawyer said she was glad she went through the process start to finish; the results only reminded her of the work to do.
“Y’all can thank George Johnson for the extra motivation. I’m woke, woke now,” Sawyer said.
Micaela Watts is a reporter for The Commercial Appeal and can be reached at micaela.watts@commercialappeal.com.